ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — Kelli Casto never expected to be delivering food.
The St. Petersburg woman started a non-profit called Saving Our Seniors four years ago to deliver medical equipment to seniors. When she saw a need creeping in during the growth of coronavirus around Tampa Bay, she knew she had to do something more.
“I literally went from 50 meals a week to like 200,” she said. “This week we’ve sent out over 550 meals to seniors.”
Casto has been delivering food for almost a month. She gets pre-packaged, frozen meals from Feeding Tampa Bay and distributes them to her customers. These aging members of the community would otherwise have very few options for meals.
Casto says they are in-between services and don’t receive daily food delivery from places like Meals On Wheels. Often there are waiting lists to navigate for help with outside organizations.
Casto says she’s trying to “fill in the gap” until further help arrives.
“I had a senior call me and she was in tears. She couldn’t find any food anywhere,” she said. “Everywhere else had a (wait) list or she couldn’t get out to get food.”
Casto’s organization runs 100 percent on donations. The meals, she says, are about $4 each. That money is adding up and demand is not decreasing.
“We have been getting them through feeding Tampa Bay,” she said.
Casto is asking for donations. She anticipates she’ll have to begin paying for meals out of her own pocket to provide for her seniors. You can help supply food through www.savingourseniors.org.
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